Today's car radios are digital -- even the RF front end. And anything with HD Radio has I and Q (amplitude and phase) detectors, which means it would be trivial to implement synchronous detection to eliminate selective fading distortion, and also C-Quam AM Stereo (which many HD Radios secretly support). Noise blanking, too -- I had a 2007 Kia which was a lousy car, but its factory radio had noise blanking on AM, so when you drove under a noisy power line, there was no crackle or buzzing; the audio just got a bit distorted and choppy.
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Car Makes & Models with No AM Band.
- Thread starter davideduardo
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But if few consumers care, especially about stupid AM stereo, then why bother?
If I understand it correctly, this is a great idea. But will the radio companies give up the idea of having their own individual apps?There has been talk about improving the sound and technology of AM radio. Here's a way to do it:
New ‘Essential’ App For AM Radio Stations Launched By jÄcapps.
In an effort to help keep AM radio programming available in vehicles, jÄcapps is marketing what it calls the Essential app to broadcasters. Billed as a simplified version of thewww.insideradio.com
This way you get the content from AM radio, but digitally, bypassing the obsolete radio device. The app is coming from radio consultant Fred Jacobs.
I've created my own "AM Dial" using an Android app so that when I'm in the car I can punch preset buttons to digitally access the AM stations I want. Most don't have pre-roll ads anymore so it's just like the AM experience when car receivers were good and interference wasn't an issue.
Any way to, "get the content from AM radio, but digitally, bypassing the obsolete radio device," could be the salvation of AM radio.
Because motorists need some way to obtain safety information, civil defense information, evacuation information, and updates during a natural disaster such as a forest fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, earthquake, etc. With climate change, these natural disasters can get more severe than usual.
AM radio, which reaches long distances, especially at night, and is not so susceptible to interruptions due to terrain, is a good broadcast band for emergency and safety information.
No, I think this is for the stations that don't have access to big corporate apps.
So, you created an app on your Android phone, then the radio station plays on your phone, which is connected by blue tooth to your car speakers? That's a good idea. But, what happens in an emergency if the cell phone towers are down?
Chances are a true emergency situation at your location is going to happen to and affect you whether you have a radio or not, and not everyone's first (or second or third) instinct when they hear thunder, hear a siren or see little green men getting out of a spaceship across the street is to turn on the radio, especially those in their homes who are more likely now not to even own a radio than own one. What do you suggest the nanny state do for those folks who've moved on from radio for entertainment and information?
What happens if AM towers are toppled?
You mean Caucasian non-Hispanic consumers? I ask this, because in California, Spanish speaking, Korean speaking, and Chinese speaking people listen to AM radio, as there are stations which broadcast specifically to those communities.
It's not unusual for cell phone relays are mounted on radio towers. The goal is to rent space on radio towers to make money.
So if cell towers are down, so are the radio towers.
This entire argument is a red herring. There are other ways to get safety information in 2023, and i can't think of a single instance in recent memory where AM radio saved the day.
In the vast majority of cases, AM radio today is running on a shoestring budget with minimal staff and aging equipment. It's no more impervious to failure than cell phone towers with their battery backup systems.
This is all about money. The removal of AM radio from vehicles is a threat to the business model of AM radio stations and the companies that provide much of the content they air. That's what they really care about, not staffing up for the next emergency.
The issue has nothing to do with the budget or staffing at the station. Nothing. The station is required by the government to be on the air. The reason for the requirement is so the government can use the signal to reach the public. That's it. That's all this is about. Stations are not required to staff up for the next emergency. Emergency staffing is up to the local emergency officials.
If the reception of that signal no longer matters, then the government can remove the requirement from privately owned radio stations. But until then, it's an issue, and one that is the responsibility of the government to promote.
Not the first time that show has done this-----they portrayed another tornado warning in a previous season using the two-tone signal. I don't know what year Young Sheldon s portraying, but it might me before the duck farts.
Do we then let the government mandate AM radio in all buildings? I realize looking at Congress that, um, being remotely up to speed on anything after the I Love Lucy era isn’t their strong point. But here in the year of our lord 2023, propping up a dying platform because maybe someone, somewhere can invent a scenario where that one bizarre set of circumstances applies is absurd.
If people want to purchase it and companies want to invest in it, more power to ‘em. The market will sort that out.
That's sort of up to them, isn't it? If it was up to me, I'd wipe out lots of laws, starting with payola.
As long as the government mandates radio stations must be on the air, the government should have a say in if that signal can be received. A station required to be on the air without the ability to be received is useless. This is not a free market issue.
If the government wants to SELL frequencies to radio companies, as they do with telecom, THEN it's a free market issue, and the government would be out of it. But if government retains the ownership of the frequency, and licenses it to companies, then the other part of that pact is that government will ensure that the signal is able to be received. If radio companies own the signal, then radio companies can do what Sirius does and buy space on the dashboard.
Let me add that I'm not aware of any radio company that is depending on the government to mandate AM in cars. The job of radio companies is to put its content (and its commercials) on every platform available. As long as the federally regulated spectrum is viable, radio stations will continue to renew their licenses and continue to stay on the air. But if the listeners are going to digital options, radio stations will be there.
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1970 thinking. Terrestrial interference has growth to levels where most AM stations aren't receivable in their own markets at night, let alone outside the market using standard means. Most AM stations aren't staffed after hours to save money, so who would be broadcasting this information? And nobody under 70 regularly listens to AM, let alone would have access to a battery operated radio.
They may broadcast to those communities, but most listeners of that language service are, like most people under 70, listening via smartphone apps, or streams outside of radio. There's no reason that people of color or that speak other languages need to put up with crappy quality of AM mono. Most have smartphones now.
I've been saying this for years, starting when the Commission started auctioning-off spectrum to Cell/PCS companies. Go ahead and allow broadcasters to buy their channel, and with that, do away with 'obscenity rules', payola, plugola, public files, EAS, and ownership rules. The only regulation would be technical parameters to stay within the channel, and to prevent interference to other 'owners'.
That's the ONLY way to come even close to leveling the playing field with streaming and social media carried via oh...smartphones.
Good Lord!
If an EAS alert goes out, first responders would provide statements about the emergency over the radio (years ago, I happened to hear an Amber Alert go out - the audio on the cable TV program was replaced with a police officer stating the specifics of the Amber Alert - then back to the program audio).
Kirk Bayne
Kirk Bayne
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